Isla San Francisco and Los Islotes, Baja California Sur
Uncommon beauty awaits those who pause to savor the extraordinary gifts offered by the natural world, especially here in Mexico’s Galapagos, the Gulf of California. Fragments of color tumble from perpendicular cliff faces and mingle on the shore where the tongues of waves lap. No precious jewels can be found in their midst but each is unusual or individualistic in shape and form. Each could be an island for here no two isles are alike. They may be formed from rocks that were the same and even at one time contiguous but each has been modified and changed by time and the powers of erosion.
Isla San Francisco mimicked the slope of the Baja Peninsula which sat to our west all day long. Pink and green layered mountains were bisected centrally by a broad and barren evaporation basin. We explored its ridgeline and circled the flats. Atypically the desert was green and lush. Where twelve months ago drifting sand lay barren, grasses and annuals grew. Black-throated sparrows flitted from shrub to shrub, their desert bell song a musical accompaniment for our stroll. Rare Wilcoxia cacti masqueraded as dead and drying jojoba twigs. Six were found in all on this tiny two square kilometer islet. As the last was carefully identified we began to question just what the word scarce did mean.
Blue whales are supposed to be seen only infrequently but we were tripping over them all day yesterday. There were more before breakfast today and by early afternoon we were surrounded by a half dozen or so. From the big to the small in the cetacean world we went, for no sooner had the whales been given the slip than we found ourselves being escorted by bow-riding bottlenose dolphins while nearby hundreds of common dolphins leapt.
There was no scarcity of life at tiny Los Islotes. The rocks squirmed with California sea lions, their bodies piled one upon the other. Their raucous barks and squeals could only hint at the vigor of the pushes and shoves occurring within each thigmotactic pile. Pups frolicked in the sea, teasing us with feigned attacks and curiosity.
Rare is synonymous with uncommon, unusual, exceptional, atypical, extraordinary, odd, singular, infrequent, few, occasional, sporadic, scarce, intermittent and erratic. Looking back, this truly was an exceptional day.
Uncommon beauty awaits those who pause to savor the extraordinary gifts offered by the natural world, especially here in Mexico’s Galapagos, the Gulf of California. Fragments of color tumble from perpendicular cliff faces and mingle on the shore where the tongues of waves lap. No precious jewels can be found in their midst but each is unusual or individualistic in shape and form. Each could be an island for here no two isles are alike. They may be formed from rocks that were the same and even at one time contiguous but each has been modified and changed by time and the powers of erosion.
Isla San Francisco mimicked the slope of the Baja Peninsula which sat to our west all day long. Pink and green layered mountains were bisected centrally by a broad and barren evaporation basin. We explored its ridgeline and circled the flats. Atypically the desert was green and lush. Where twelve months ago drifting sand lay barren, grasses and annuals grew. Black-throated sparrows flitted from shrub to shrub, their desert bell song a musical accompaniment for our stroll. Rare Wilcoxia cacti masqueraded as dead and drying jojoba twigs. Six were found in all on this tiny two square kilometer islet. As the last was carefully identified we began to question just what the word scarce did mean.
Blue whales are supposed to be seen only infrequently but we were tripping over them all day yesterday. There were more before breakfast today and by early afternoon we were surrounded by a half dozen or so. From the big to the small in the cetacean world we went, for no sooner had the whales been given the slip than we found ourselves being escorted by bow-riding bottlenose dolphins while nearby hundreds of common dolphins leapt.
There was no scarcity of life at tiny Los Islotes. The rocks squirmed with California sea lions, their bodies piled one upon the other. Their raucous barks and squeals could only hint at the vigor of the pushes and shoves occurring within each thigmotactic pile. Pups frolicked in the sea, teasing us with feigned attacks and curiosity.
Rare is synonymous with uncommon, unusual, exceptional, atypical, extraordinary, odd, singular, infrequent, few, occasional, sporadic, scarce, intermittent and erratic. Looking back, this truly was an exceptional day.
